Pinot Square

Medium: Acrylic on vintage wood box panel

Dimensions: 14″ x 14.5″

Date: 2025

About the Artwork:

Vandenberg’s work focuses on day to day winery life. She shows the ins and outs of working at AtoZ Wineworks and REX Hill, presenting pieces that display the talents and interior lives of the employees. Each painting sets its own scene, depicting a fleeting moment, the flattened figures blending in with their tools or landscape. Vandenberg sought to depict the people who keep the winery running.  She represents them going about their daily tasks, showing off their talents and dedication to their craft. But moreso, she defines them for their humanness, showing them in their down time, relaxing, celebrating or simply waiting for the wine to ferment.

The work introduces a look at their skills and identities but is also a snapshot of the larger AtoZ community and the long history behind winemaking. The textiles form their own portraits, painfully devoid of any figure. A dreamlike scene is created, something in between the familiar and the unknown, the handmade and the manufactured.  The cycles that we depend on in winemaking and in our daily lives in Oregon are shown in the ephemeral nature of the vanitas symbols dotted throughout the paintings.  The community that is formed at the winery is apparent through the work and is made all the more important through its transient nature. It is a celebration of people and craft imbued with a longing for connection.